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Induction hardening is an important heat treatment operation for a number of components, including shafts, crank-shafts, gears, and axles to improve wear and fatigue properties. These parts are widely used in automotive as well as off-highway vehicles. Induction hardening process comprises of two distinct steps, induction heating and quenching operation. It involves phenomenologically many overlapping complex processes such as temperature evolution, phase transformation, microstructure evolution and structural changes. Therefore, it is important to understand and quantify the aforementioned processes to avoid the residual stress and distortion in the component resulting from induction hardening. In the present work, a two step simulation methodology has been developed by coupling two commercial FEA softwares, based on electromagnetic and heat treatment simulations, respectively.

Fatigue durability of structural components depends on geometrical features, material fatigue properties, and service loading. The scatter of the three basic factors affects also the scatter of the fatigue durability of those objects. In order to estimate the scatter of predicted fatigue durability it is necessary to describe in a consistent way the variability of the input data, i.e. the scatter of the geometrical parameters and resulting stress concentration factors and the stress magnitude and distribution in critical regions, the scatter of the material properties, and the scatter of the applied load. The statistical data, mathematical tools and their practical use leading to the evaluation of fatigue reliability and durability of welded structures in earth moving machinery is the subject of the discussion presented below.